When someone asked him [Mawlana Jami] why he seldom used the technical language of Sufism, he said: “That would be all very well if we wished to deceive each other for a while, turning a subject of real importance into a verbal plaything.” (Rashahat Ain al-Hayat)
January 30th, 2008 - 1:25 pm
Asalaamu alaikum.
Isn’t the reality of tasawuff that much of it cannot be properly conveyed in mere words?
Nor is it meant to be conveyed simplistically or over-technically - either way the true secrets are lost.
January 31st, 2008 - 1:15 am
Salaam alaykum,
Is this another excerpt from Sayyidi Muhtar Holland’s translation of the Nafahat al-Uns? Any further news on its release?
Alf Shukr
January 31st, 2008 - 1:19 am
“The reality of Sufism lays in a bringing something forth from oneself, namely a state of perpetual remembrance of Allah; not in being a learned person. A person might be a great spokesman on Sufism, having memorized the terminology and knowing what the books said; but an illiterate who had awakened his heart and realized himself in perpetual remembrance (dhikr) would be greater in the eyes of Allah.”
-Sheikh Yunus Hamdan
January 31st, 2008 - 6:19 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Alaykumsalam,
This excerpt is from Rashahat Ain al-Hayat, an already published work. No news yet on the release of Nafahat.
January 31st, 2008 - 11:38 pm
Bismillah.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh . . .
“Don’t get caught up in the names and lose the aim!” - as my dear and beloved brother Haroon Sellars always used to say…
His personal site: http://web.mac.com/islaminamerica/iWeb/Reflect/Blog/Blog.html
February 1st, 2008 - 6:26 pm
SubhanAllah! You know what’s really funny. I thought the post was going to be about Sufi terminology. haha. May Allah guide me and forgive me. And us all! AMeen!
February 1st, 2008 - 7:13 pm
Beautiful. And really hard hitting also - just like Mawlana.
February 2nd, 2008 - 2:42 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum Khalil!
Hope to see you in Virginia one of these days
Salamu’alaykum MR,
Ha! Ameen
Salamu’alaykum Yaser,
Indeed, I’m glad you enjoyed this excerpt.
February 2nd, 2008 - 11:08 pm
Sidi Yursil, I look forward to it!!!!
February 3rd, 2008 - 11:32 pm
As-Salam Alaikum…
Sidi Yursil, this post is a good reminder since most “problems” are due to some people wrestling with the phantoms of technical words, and not the concepts and real meanings they stem from. May Allah continue to bless you and open more meanings to you.
I recently listened to a lecture that resonates well this posting, I thought I’d share the link to it for those interested in getting a copy,
Spiritual Struggle: Understanding the Science of Tasawwuf by Ustadh Yahya Rhodus
http://rumibookstore.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=158&product_id=600
Btw, where can I acquire Rashahat al-Uns from?
Wassalam.
February 4th, 2008 - 12:32 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Alaykumsalaam,
Ah I corrected a mistake in the citation. The book can be found here
http://islamicbookstore.com/b7021.html
February 5th, 2008 - 5:25 am
I fail to see how utilizing terms relevant to the art, known by the knowers, is a “verbal plaything” and “deception”. Do we say of the huffaath that they are deceiving one another when they utilize terms such as “ghareeb”, “munkar”, “jayyid”, “layyin” etc etc etc. - in effect changing their primary linguistic meaning for that of a hadithi meaning? Is such utilization a plaything, or even deception for those who understand their nomenclature? Or what of the faqih, who has usooli nomenclature that is not understood by the layman? Is he also wading in the pools of deception? It is my view that such nomenclature is for its people, and serves its purpose well, hardly deception, and hardly lahu! That is just my opinion though.
-Abul Layth
February 5th, 2008 - 8:15 am
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum,
One may find that Maulana Jami (R), a giant in his time, acknowledged by all branches of Naqshbandi’s as well as Sufis beyond, certainly felt the danger of ego is strongly present for those who seek to enforce a nomenclature (hence busying with a memorizing of that which takes oneself away from zikr). An important consequence of which is developing an entrance criteria and encouraging an elitist subculture for a topic of simplicity of the utmost and primary importance to all: purification of the self.
Hence one will find that people are often astounded or confused by the simplicity of the message when listening to the Naqshbandi shaykhs who rarely use a spiritual ‘lingo’… Most of us taught in a Western system miss the subtle ways advanced topics are entered in their discourse.
February 5th, 2008 - 9:41 am
Using the nomenclature is a type of dhikr itself.
February 5th, 2008 - 10:25 am
Certainly can be.
February 5th, 2008 - 11:46 am
Asalaamu alaikum.
Perhaps a real example could help you, Abul Layth? I can’t understand the vast majority of what you have said in comment #12. Does that then mean I am a bad Muslim, a bad “sufi” practicioner? Because I don’t have the “right” terminology memorized? I don’t think that is what you are trying to say, I’m just trying to make it “real” for you. There are many who are “ignorant” by our standards in many ways but through that ignorance and simplicity draw much much closer to Allah. They are not caught up in formulas and language and therefore their hearts are moving towards the goal in the most simple and sincere ways. That doesn’t mean that formulas and language don’t have their place, but you can know all the formulas and language and still be devoid of the heart, and we can probably all think of someone we’ve known in our own lives who had the “right” words but not the right character and used the words to try to elevate themselves.
February 6th, 2008 - 9:31 pm
Sayyidah, I did not imply at all, or mean, that it is necessary for the mureed/a to know the nomenclature of the “knowers”, if that be the will of one’s guide. I am simply stating that the nomenclature developed by the ‘arifeen is not a play thing, is not deception, and has been utilized for more than a thousand years by those who witnessed what we have not. If the great awliyaa’ have seen use in it, have continued to pass this sacred knowledge down to their mureeds, there must be an incredible spiritual benefit therein. I am saying that the contempt upon the Sufic nomenclature, and the above attributed clauses, seem to me to be unwarranted in the majlis of the ‘arifeen, that is all.
February 6th, 2008 - 9:53 pm
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum,
This very quote is also found within the text cited here:
http://shadhilitariqa.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28
“Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia”
of which Shaykh Nuh writes:
Maulana Jami (R) is one of the central figures within this text.
I think if we are unable to grasp the wisdom of Maulana Jami’s (R) words it may be best to leave it for others than to dwell on the matter for too long. From my perspective the great arifeen passed a nomenclature along but at the same time, the living nature of it allowed the same arifeen to keep it in check before it became something it was never intended to be.
February 7th, 2008 - 3:43 pm
I think you’re missing the point. Mawlana’s style is to break the ego of his student at that point - Wallahu a’lam. He was seeking, from what I gather, some sort of feeling that he was with a real shaykh who would use these words, not to say it is wrong to say them, and Mawlana preferred to keep the salik’s nafs in check and show that the reality of the path are not the words but the works of the heart and the body. Wallahu a’lam.
And one must know persian to really appreciate how his poetry still sounds good and understandable too! Allahhh.
February 10th, 2008 - 9:35 am
asalaamu alaikum,
are you turkish? and did you grow up there?
March 9th, 2008 - 9:26 am
bismillah hir-Rahman ir-Raheem
To isolate this quote and take it to mean that Mawlana Jami is against there even being a sufi nomenclature and/or that anyone who makes use of sufi terminology or makes a formal university style study of tasawwuf has without exception lost sight of the true aim of Sufism is a very premature conclusion to come to. i think enough people in the comments section including our generous host here have made the point abundantly clear that there is a time for this and a time for that. Similar sentiments to what Mawlana Jami expressed were uttered by countless Awliya of all the different tariqas throughout the ages. It all comes down to this…ultimately, as Rumi once SAID: “Speech is a river, silence is an ocean.”